Airstrikes in northern Syria kill at least 43 BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian warplanes hammered a strategic city captured by rebels, leaving behind scenes of carnage captured Thursday on amateur videos that showed a man holding up two child-sized legs not connected to a body and another carrying a dismembered arm. Activists said airstrikes over the past two days on opposition targets across Syria's north have killed at least 43 people. The city of Maaret al-Numan, located strategically on a major n...

Mexico seeks exhumation of drug lord's parents MEXICO CITY (AP) — Authorities are seeking permits to exhume the remains of drug lord Heriberto Lazcano's parents to obtain material for DNA testing to convince the public beyond doubt that he is dead, Mexico's top anti-drug prosecutor said Wednesday. Lazcano's body was stolen by a team of armed, masked men from a funeral home in northern Coahuila state on Oct. 8, hours after he was killed by Mexican marines, according to officials. Mexico's n...

Group: Libya militias 'executed' Gadhafi loyalists CAIRO (AP) — Libyan rebels appear to have "summarily executed" scores of fighters loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, and probably the dictator himself, when they overran his hometown a year ago, a human rights group said Wednesday. The report by Human Rights Watch on alleged rebel abuses that followed the October 2011 capture of the city of Sirte in the final major battle of the eight-month civil war is one of the most detailed descriptions of what the...

Israel counted Gaza calorie needs during blockade JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli authorities blockading the Gaza Strip in 2008 went so far as to calculate how many calories would be needed to avert a humanitarian disaster in the impoverished Palestinian territory, according to a newly declassified military document. The military said Wednesday the guidelines were never implemented. However critics rejected the claim, saying the document was new evidence that Israel used food as a pressure tactic to...

UN Syria envoy calls on government to start truce BEIRUT (AP) — The international envoy to the Syrian conflict on Wednesday called on President Bashar Assad's regime to take the lead in implementing a cease-fire during a major Muslim holiday later this month. Lakhdar Brahimi said rebel representatives have assured him they will also observe the truce if the government takes the first step. "The Syrian people are burying hundreds of people each day, so if they bury fewer people during the days...

Brothels rescue cash-strapped Greek soccer team LARISSA, Greece (AP) — The world's oldest profession is giving a whole new meaning to love of the game. Players on a cash-strapped Greek soccer team now wear pink practice jerseys with the logos "Villa Erotica" and "Soula's House of History," two bordellos it recruited as sponsors after drastic government spending cuts left the country's sports clubs facing ruin. Other teams have also turned to unconventional financing. One has a deal with a l...

Praise, skepticism as Cuba eases travel rules The one thing that stands out now is that the travel restrictions are all on the side of the United States," Peters added, referring to the longtime ban on American tourism to the island as part of the U.S. economic embargo against Cuba. "That's kind of ironic.

Europeans hoping to fight in Syria raise new fears PARIS (AP) — European governments have been among the most vocal supporters of Syria's rebels — to a point: Last week, Muslims in Britain and France accused of trying to join the fight against the regime were detained. For security officials, the fear is that extremists with European passports who are alienated and newly trained to wage war will ultimately take skills learned in Syria and use them back home. In France, where an Islamic extremi...

Picasso, Monets stolen in Dutch heist AMSTERDAM (AP) — Thieves broke into a Rotterdam museum on Tuesday and walked off with works from the likes of Picasso, Monet, Gauguin and Matisse potentially worth hundreds of millions. Police haven't said how they pulled off the early hours heist, but an expert who tracks stolen art said the robbers clearly knew what they were after. "Those thieves got one hell of a haul," said Chris Marinello, who directs the Art Loss Register. The heist at ...

Shot Pakistani girl responding well to treatment BIRMINGHAM, England (AP) — A teenage Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting girls' education has responded well to treatment and impressed doctors with her strength, the British hospital where she was being treated said Tuesday. Experts are optimistic that 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was airlifted Monday to Britain to receive specialized medical care, has a good chance of recovery because unlike adults, the brains o...

Tropical Storm Rafael dumps rain in east Caribbean CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — Tropical Storm Rafael lashed the eastern Caribbean Saturday with heavy rains that are expected to unleash floods on islands around the region. The storm was located about 85 miles (137 kilometers) east of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands at 8 p.m. EDT Saturday. It had top sustained winds of 50 mph (85 kph) and was moving north at 12 mph (19 kph). The U.S. National Hurricane Center said the storm...

Cuban missile crisis beliefs endure after 50 years HAVANA (AP) — The world stood at the brink of Armageddon for 13 days in October 1962 when President John F. Kennedy drew a symbolic line in the Atlantic and warned of dire consequences if Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev dared to cross it. An American U-2 spy plane flying high over Cuba had snapped aerial photographs of Soviet ballistic missile sites that could launch nuclear warheads with little warning at the United States, just 90 miles awa...

Strong earthquake rocks eastern Indonesia JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong earthquake jolted eastern Indonesia on Friday, sending panicked people running out of their houses and buildings, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency said there was no danger of a tsunami, but the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was a "very small possibility" for a tsunami near the epicenter. The U.S. Geological Survey says the qua...

Welsh restaurant sorry for serving booze to child LONDON (AP) — A restaurant chain has apologized for accidentally serving alcohol to a toddler in Wales, calling it a case of human error. The BBC reported Sonny Rees, 2, was taken to a hospital emergency room after drinking whiskey at his second birthday party at a Frankie and Benny's restaurant in Swansea. His mother said he was clearly intoxicated. She said she tasted his drink after noticing that he was making a funny face. At the hospital,...

China's popular Mo Yan wins Nobel literature prize BEIJING (AP) — Novelist Mo Yan, this year's Nobel Prize winner for literature, is practiced in the art of challenging the status quo without offending those who uphold it. Mo, whose popular, sprawling, bawdy tales bring to life rural China, is the first Chinese winner of the literature prize who is not a critic of the authoritarian government. And Thursday's announcement by the Swedish Academy brought an explosion of pride across Chinese socia...

Hezbollah says it sent drone over Israel BEIRUT (AP) — The leader of Hezbollah claimed responsibility Thursday for launching an Iranian-made drone aircraft into Israeli airspace earlier this week, adding more tension to an already explosive Mideast atmosphere. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah warned that it would not be the last such operation by his Lebanese militant group. Israeli warplanes shot down the unmanned plane, but the infiltration marked a rare breach of Israel's tightly guarded ai...